Prepping for civil unrest

ccross - November 8, 2020

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Anyone here anticipating/prepping for civil unrest? 

11  

While I believe that acknowledging civil unrest as a potential threat is wise, I also think it’s very easy for people to over-inflate their concerns to a state of paranoia that can result in actions that actually lead to far more dangerous situations.  I’m thinking of the idiot McCloskey couple, for instance, who would have been much safer had they stayed in their home and recognized that the Black Lives Matter protest that was marching down their street was no real threat to them.  But instead of locking their doors and hunkering down they chose to go outside and wave their guns around.  Now they are facing felony charges and are hated by millions of people- they did a terrible job of protecting themselves!

In contrast, my octogenarian parents live in Portland, and just about every night this past summer a large mass of BLM protesters marched down their street on their way to the downtown rallies. My folks would often sit on their porch and watch, and sometimes wave or give a thumbs up, and they received nothing but 100% positive energy aimed back at them.

So, to answer your question, yes, I am both anticipating and prepping for civil unrest.  I am paying close attention to what is going on and making sure not to inadvertently stumble into a hot-spot, I am keeping my food and other supplies in top order so I can hunker down for days/weeks if I need to, I am making sure my home is well secured, and otherwise keeping a low profile. 

Sure, I have guns and ammo, but that’s incase I get attacked, which is a different thing from civil unrest.  

 

IMO, any serious prepper needs to consider civil unrest as a threat.  That is one reason why I live way out in the country.  Being way out can be inconvenient however such a location is great if there is civil unrest.  Our country has grown to expect the government to solve any problem and be there to save the day.  Just look at how people handle hurricanes.  Many expect the government to bus them out of the danger area, put them up in temporary housing & feed them afterwards.  What happens if the event is too big for a proper government response?  Yep, civil unrest.

 

yes I am. Primarily prep for that and I guess a downed grid situation. Agree with Redneck

 

Many don’t have to anticipate civil unrest, they’re in the middle of it.  Granted, it could be a lot worse for many more.  Major problems are not far away.  I heard today that some Walmarts are going to return to limiting the number of people in the stores.  Overnight our comfortable way of life can collapse. 

I really like this website.

 

Luckily I was able to move out of the city last year and am now in a more rural location. This was before all the covid, riots, and lockdowns this year, but one of the major benefits I saw in moving to a more rural location was getting away from the masses. I would look around at how many thousands upon thousands of people were around me, and imagined what all those thousands would do if a disaster hit, it was scary. And then this year I saw what a small number of those people can do if they are upset and stressed.

I have family in the mountains, and this was going to be my bugout location if something went south. But I decided that I didn’t want to have to stress about when to leave or not, fighting with the traffic of those thousands heading out of the city too, and having to load up all my preps for this journey. I thought it would be better to live in my bugout location and that would solve so many problems preparednesswise. 

There are plenty of drawbacks to moving out of the city, and things truly are not as convenient, but I feel a bit better in minimizing civil unrest issues.

Are you prepping for civil unrest ccross? What are you doing? This is definitely something I need to work on and could learn more about. I’m trying to build up my food storage now, because not having to go to the store and bunkering in will greatly improve my likelyhood of running into civil unrest if I see it going on in the news.

 

prepping for civil unrest /rioting/looting/arson has alllll kinds of tangent cross-overs to other possible SHTFs ….

you should be ready to board-up your home for a number of SHTFs – one being storm damage prevention and post-mitigation >>> civil unrest board-up should include observation and shooting loops ….

same same situation regarding firefighting – good prepping should include a complete plan and the tools prepped to cover the plan implementation….

unneccessary to say defense & security crosses over to just about any & all possible SHTFs >>> and should be an everyday prep ….

 

I definitely need to spend some time working on better preparing myself and my family for civil unrest.  I’ve been so focused on getting my family is a good position from a water and food perspective I haven’t thought must beyond that.  We are well armed and already had a good stash of ammo.  We live out in the country, although in a popular resort town in northern New England.

Besides guns and ammo, what is everybody else doing to prepare for potential civil unrest?

 

IMO, the best thing someone can do is to have plenty of food & water in storage (or available) and stay away from crowds.  Last thing you want to do is to go shopping once a crisis has started.  Those stores will be packed with desperate people and desperate people are dangerous.

Guns and ammo are necessary but your first goal is to avoid conflict.  Rambo is fictional.  In a real fight, people get hurt & will die.

 

While I believe that acknowledging civil unrest as a potential threat is wise, I also think it’s very easy for people to over-inflate their concerns to a state of paranoia that can result in actions that actually lead to far more dangerous situations.  I’m thinking of the idiot McCloskey couple, for instance, who would have been much safer had they stayed in their home and recognized that the Black Lives Matter protest that was marching down their street was no real threat to them.  But instead of locking their doors and hunkering down they chose to go outside and wave their guns around.  Now they are facing felony charges and are hated by millions of people- they did a terrible job of protecting themselves!

In contrast, my octogenarian parents live in Portland, and just about every night this past summer a large mass of BLM protesters marched down their street on their way to the downtown rallies. My folks would often sit on their porch and watch, and sometimes wave or give a thumbs up, and they received nothing but 100% positive energy aimed back at them.

So, to answer your question, yes, I am both anticipating and prepping for civil unrest.  I am paying close attention to what is going on and making sure not to inadvertently stumble into a hot-spot, I am keeping my food and other supplies in top order so I can hunker down for days/weeks if I need to, I am making sure my home is well secured, and otherwise keeping a low profile. 

Sure, I have guns and ammo, but that’s incase I get attacked, which is a different thing from civil unrest.  

 

This post is 3 weeks old so I assume it was prompted by the election.  Easy to say now but my answer would be no, we aren’t anywhere close to the conditions that would lead to the kinds of unrest many here are prepping for.  If the wealth inequality and 300k dead in a year that already exists hasn’t prompted civil unrest then I don’t see it happening in regards to the pandemic.  I do see possible wars and unrest on the distant horizon due to climate change and food insecurity.  China wants to dominate the world and though they always have a 5 year plan they might not do anything for another 10 or 15 or …. who knows.  I think prepping is mostly a hobby that gives me  the illusion of control.  Even at my low level of prepping I’m ahead of 99.5% of the population and I like those odds. 

 

Doesn’t hurt to stack the odds a little. Now I fear it will be a gradual slide of America into becoming “New Venezuela “. If you don’t know about Venezuela as a ‘Prepper’ then definitely study up on it.  They used to be one of the most prosperous countries in the world until they adopted a welfare state.  Now they are all starving to death.  Here’s to hoping that our slide to becoming a 3rd world country is slow and gradual.  

 

As a retired history teacher, I know better than to attribute any nation’s rise or fall to simplistic answers.  Every nation’s socio-economic situation has a lot of moving parts. I’ve known preppers for the better part of 5 decades (I’m 63) and the reasons why they are prepping keep changing. IMO, best to just do what you do if you enjoy it and not give too much energy to why.